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Every year on the second Saturday in May, U.S. Postal Service letter carriers collect tons of food donated by their customers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America on Stamp Out Hunger Day, the largest one-day food drive in the nation.
“More than 34 million Americans, including 9 million children, experience food insecurity and rely on food donations,” said USPS Strategic Communications Specialist Elizabeth Najduch. “This drive is one way to help those in our own city or town who need help.”
All you have to do is leave some non-perishable food items near your mailbox, ideally collected in a bag or box, or bring them to the Post Office on Saturday, May 10.
“To participate, USPS customers are asked to fill a bag with healthy, nonperishable food items and place it by their mailbox for mail carriers to pick up,” Najduch explained. “During the drive, postal employees collect the food and donate it to local food banks and pantries. Participation is voluntary.”
“They should put them in bags, and just non-perishable items,” added Ionia Postmaster Logan Cotter.
Mail carriers will deliver the donations to local community food banks, pantries and shelters at nearly 1,500 NALC branches in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands.
Locally, the food is sorted and delivered to an area food bank or pantry, where it is made available for needy families.
The NALC (National Association of Letter Carriers) Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive is led by the AFL-CIO-affiliated NALC letter carriers union and has delivered more than 1.9 billion pounds of food since it was launched in 1993.
Other sponsors of this year’s Stamp Out Hunger food drive are the United Way, Vericast, Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, CVS Health, Kellogg’s and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
